by John M. Simpson.<\/p>\n
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is well known for its publicity-seeking tactics.\u00a0 Over the past Super Bowl weekend, PETA generated controversy<\/a> with a commercial that it claims was rejected by the Fox Network which depicted cartoon animals “taking a knee” during the National Anthem.\u00a0\u00a0The social media response was not positive.\u00a0\u00a0Some critics\u00a0saw this as trivializing and misappropriating Colin Kaepernick’s protest activities or trivializing the civil rights movement in general.\u00a0 During this same period, PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk, went on record<\/a> claiming that calling a pet a “pet” is offensive and disrespectful and tantamount to calling a woman “honey” or “sweetie,” drawing another offensive comparison — this time between dog or cat ownership and sexual discrimination and harassment.<\/p>\n As they typically do, these antics received press.\u00a0 What received no press was PETA’s annual filing with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reporting on the disposition of dogs, cats and other animals that PETA took into its “shelter” in Norfolk, Virginia.\u00a0 As a private animal shelter in Virginia, PETA must file this report each year by January 31 for the preceding calendar year.\u00a0 As we have reported before<\/a>, PETA euthanizes dogs and cats at a rate that far exceeds the rate at private shelters in the Commonwealth generally.\u00a0 PETA’s 2019 report<\/a> shows that this trend has continued.<\/p>\n In 2019, PETA took in 1,066 dogs and 1,355 cats.\u00a0 It euthanized 609 of the dogs and 969 of the cats.\u00a0 In other words, PETA euthanized 57%<\/span><\/strong> of the dogs it took in and 72%<\/span><\/strong> of the cats.\u00a0 It adopted out 19 dogs and 10 cats, i.e., 1.8%<\/span><\/strong> of the dogs taken in and .8%<\/span><\/strong> of the cats.<\/p>\n The numbers, statewide among all private animal shelters<\/a>, were very different.\u00a0 In 2019, Virginia private animal shelters, in the aggregate, took in 19,250 dogs and 21,837 cats.\u00a0 They\u00a0euthanized 821 dogs and 1,356 cats,\u00a0 i.e., 4.3%<\/span><\/strong> of the dogs and 6.3%<\/span><\/strong> of the cats.\u00a0 Private animal shelters as a whole in Virginia adopted out 14,475 dogs and 15,787 cats, or 75%<\/span><\/strong> of the dogs and 73%<\/span><\/strong> of the cats.<\/p>\n